Since nuclear destruction was a given after 1945 - heck, that hysterical Doomsday clock has barely moved despite nuclear disarmament and the collapse of the Soviet Union (it quickly embraced global warming when nuclear war was passé) - researchers made sure to study the important stuff during the Cold War, like what would happen to fizzy drinks during fission-based detonation.

Result: The cans did a little better but both survived pretty well, even about 1,000 feet from the blast. Radiation was minimal, "well within the permissible limits for emergency use", the report said. But, really, what is more of an emergency than 'I just survived a nuclear blast'?Did anyone drink it? Yep, this was the time before pesky human rights standards for scientists.

Examination made immediately upon recovery showed no observable gross changes in the appearance of the beverages. Immediate taste tests indicated that the beverages, both beer and soft drinks, were still of commercial quality, although there was evidence of a slight flavor change in some of the products exposed at 1270 ft from GZ [Ground Zero]. Those farther away showed no change.

Check out Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog. Enjoy Slim Gaillard Quartette's Atomic Cocktail while you read and you will stay for the awesome content. Mostly because we no longer live it. Or at least we think we don't.

As a lad during those times, I can remember a few details about the testing and the worries that the US public had. I don't remember anything about the beer tests though. Since I do remember some of the beer that was available at the time, I thought it was worth assessing which of the brands might have been involved in the tests.

These brands were all available at the time: Coors, Pearl, Falstaff (largest in the US at the time), Jax, Pabst, Miller, Olympia, Hamm’s and Stag (a Griesedieck brand). It is reasonable to guess that the closest breweries would have their products involved in the test and that some of the breweries farther away would not be represented.

The closest would include Coors, Pearl, and Jax. Falstaff would have likely been included as it was the sales leader during those times. Hamm's is also a likely paticipant because if it's aggressive advertising, Miller, and Olympia probably weren't involved due to the distance from the test site.

Of those likely to have been included in the test, Coors was probably the easiest on the taste buds after being nuked. I say this because Pearl and Jax tasted pretty nasty even without the extra radiation.